Thomas Ingles Smith

Thomas Ingles Smith, born in 1800 in Virginia, served as a soldier in the War of 1812 in a company commanded by his father, General Bird B. Smith. He arrived in Texas late in 1836 and soon enlisted in the Republic of Texas army under Gen. Felix Huston. He was wounded in the Battle of the Salado in September 1842. In December of that year, President Sam Houston sent a small group of Rangers under Smith and Eli Chandler to move the archives of the Republic to Washington-on-the-Brazos, but citizens of Austin prevented the move in a show of force that became known as the Archive War. By 1843 he was living along Chambers Creek in present Ellis County, and in 1844 he was a Texas Ranger and Indian Scout. He commanded the Robertson County Rangers along the frontier in 1845. As commissioner to negotiate with the Indians, he signed the last treaty made by the Republic of Texas. Fort Smith, one of a line of fortifications from the Colorado to Red River, was established in 1846 and named for Thomas I. Smith. With two partners, he gave land for the townsite of Corsicana and in 1848 was a member of the commission to locate the Navarro County seat. He died in Austin in March 1848.

Corsicana, Texas · United States